Tension adjuster for violin strings



J. SCHWARTZ.

nuswu ADJUSTER For) VIOLIN smma's.

APPLICATION FILED 0EC..2| "20.

Patented Oct. 17, 1922.

Jacob SJwortz In v'entor:

Atty

Patented Oct. 17, 1922.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JACOB SCHWARTZ, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

TENSION ADJUSTER FOR VIOLIN STRINGS.

Application filed December 20, 1920. Serial No. 431,846.

sti'ingliolder for the strings of musical in-- struments, and has referenceto that type of holder by means of which the string may be very finely adjusted as to tension and securely held in such adjusted position.

The device is especially, although not necessarily solely, useful for the E-string of violins. The latter arewire strings and fine tension adjustment thereof has proven, in practice, to be much more difficult by means of the ordinary wooden peg than to tension the other violin-strings which are of gut.

String-holders of the character contemplated by my invention comprise a supporting member attachable to the tail piece of the musical instrument, and a string-holder proper movably mounted in the supporting member and capable of being set at any desired angle of inclination, and held in position, so as to impart the requisite tension to the string of which one end is secured to the holder. This general type of stringholder is old in the art, and my invention is concerned with improving certain features thereof, as more fully hereinafter pointed out.

One objectof my invention is to facilitate the manufacture of such string-holders, and I accomplish this object by eliminating the pivot pin which has been heretofore employed for connecting the holder to its support. and in lieu thereof I provide the support with an enlarged opening through which the holder is passed and then swage the support at the opening so that the holder is secured in position but is capable of rock ing to permit of the inclined adjustment thereof. X}

Another object of the invention is to simplify the operation of placing a string on and removing it from the holder, and to effectuate this object I bifurcate the upper hooked end of the holder arm so that the string may be readily passed through this bifurcated end, and then wrapped about the post and about itself to obtain secure anchorage of the string end.

A third object of the in vention is to prevent binding of. the holder arm and permit of its being rocked in a constant vertical plane to avoid side distortion of the string, and to this end ll provide the outer end of the lower arm of the holder with a depression. with which the adjusting screw coacts in effecting adjustment of the holder arm.

. The invention is illustratively exemplified in the accompanying drawing wherein Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the device as applied to a violin tail-piece, the latter being shown in section; Fig. 2 is a similar view with certain parts of the improved device in section; Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a view partly in section looking in the direction of the arrows 4-4 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the support before it has been swaged.

Referring to the drawing, 10 denotes a violin tail-piece suitably apertured to receive a centrally bored or substantially tubular nut 11 which is both internally and externally threaded. The head 12 of the nut is preferably knurled to facilitate 1nanipulation thereof. Passing through the bore of the nut 11 is an adjusting screw 13 having a milled or knurled head 14. The lower end of the nut 1.1 is designed to engage a threaded opening at the rear of the supporting member or plate 15, the forward portion of such plate projecting somewhat beyond the forward edge of the tail-piece 10. It will be apparent that the plate 15 may be clamped to the tail-piece by screwing the nut 11 down until the head 12 thereof engages the upper face of the tail-piece.

The string-holder comprises a stringholding arm 16 and an adjusting arm 17, the two arms being preferably integral and sub-- stantiall y at right angles to each other. The upper end of the arm 16 is bifurcated at 18 topermit the string 19 to be passed therethrough, and adjacent the bifurcation the inner face of the arm 16 is ineurved or grooved as at 20 to provide a depressed seat or place of purchase for the retained end of the string 19.

The rear end 17 of the arm 17 is wider than the body portion of the arm, and its upper face is depressed or cupped as at 21 to provide a parabolic surface against which the lower end of the adjusting screw 11 may act. By the arrangement just described, the

adjusting arm as a whole will always be righted by the action of the screw against the curved surface or the depression :21 so that the arm 16 will always stand in the same \ertical plane oi? adjustment.

Near the torwaru end (it the plate an opening in which the string-holder 16-17 is rochingly supported. il llCSllttQC of this opening in the partially completed article as shown in Fig. 5 dili'ers from that of the completed device as shown in his. In Fig. 5 the opei'iing which is designated 2:2 is substantially annular and the end of the arm containing the opening is round. l l owever, after the arm has been swaged, i. e.. conipressed or subjected. to a sharp blow, the opening :52 assumes an elongated, substantially elliptical shape, Mill the walls thereof engage in oppositely disposed undercut slots in the latter walls of the arm 16 adjacent its junction with the arm 17. Each slot 23 has its walls somewhat 'l'lared or divergent as shown in. Fig. 2., and with this construction the holder 1617 is confined in the support 15 without the use of a pivot pin, but capable of rocking therein. When a pivot pin is employed, the arm 16 as well as the walls of the support 15 adjacent the opening 29- must be pierced and in assembling the device, these holes must be accurately alined to receive the pin. This work is time consuming and expensive and is entirely dispensed with by constructincthe device in the manner above described. in accordance with my invention.

The operation of my inventionis very simple, and may be briefly described as follows :VVith the parts assembled as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the loose end of the string 19 is passed down through the bifurcation 1; and then wrapped one or more times about the arm 16 at the gnooved portion. 520, and the string may also be wound upon itself as shown at 19. Thereupon the screw 13 is turned up or down thus rocking the arm 16 to more or less tension the string 19 until the desired tautness is obtained. Very fine adjustment is made possible by the screw threaded engagement between the screw 13 and the inner screw threaded face or the nut 11, and when such adj ustnicnt is completed the screw is released and the adjustment remains without the use of any other locking arrangement for the parts.

I claim 1. A string holder or the character described, comprising a supporting plate having an opening at one end thereof, an adjusting; member carried at the opposite end of said plate, and a holder arm passing through and held in said opening and having one o'l? its ends bifurcated to receive a string and the other of its ends being provided with a depression adapted to receive the end of said adjusting member. 7

2. A string holder of the character described, comprising a supporting plate having an opening at one end thereof, an adjusting member carried by the opposite end of said plate, and a holder arm held in said opening, said holder arm having one end bifurcated and its inner face incurved adjacent said bifurcation and the other free end thereof being; provided with a depressed curved portion adapted to receive the end of said adj usting member to adjust the inclination of the string holder.

3. In a string; tensioning device, thecombination with a supporting bed plate having: an opening at one end thereof of an L-shaped string holder loosely tlulcrumed in said openin gr, said holder being provided with an open ended slot at one end thereof to receive a string and a curved depression adjacent its opposite end, and an adjusting member carried by said plate and having one end desione l to cooperate with said depression to adjust the inclination ot said string holder in a ."e1 'tical plane.

In testimony whereof I have allixed my signature.

J ACUB SCHWARTZ 

